Machine for marking circular knit hosiery for boarding



3947. R. J. MOODY ET A L. 2,4 1

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING Filed April 16,1946 5 Sheets-Sheet l Faber/ J Moody John E. fay/0r By Meir affomeysJune 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ET AL 2,421,538

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR'BOARDING Filed April 16,1946 5 Sheets Sheet, 2

I F/GZ lifilil John E Tay/or By their attorneys June 3, 1947. 2,421,638

I MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSI ERY FOR BQARDING R. J. MOODY ETAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 16, 1946 June 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ETAL. 2,421,638

MACHINE FOR MARKING' CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING Filed April16,1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 //7|/e/7f0r$ Ruben J Moody Jam 5 Toy/0r 5yfire/7' affomeys June 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ET AL 2,421,638

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING 5 Sheets-Sheet 5Filed April 16, 1946 Patented June 3, 1947 .MA-CHJ-NE FOR CIRCULAR KNITHOSIERY FOR BOARDIN G Robert J. Moody and John 'E. Taylor, Franklin,

N. IL, assignors "to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, Laconia, N. TH., acorporation of Massa- :chnsetts Application April '16, 1946, Serial No.662,536

1 Claim.

invention relates to a knitting machine having means for marking hosieryknit of a thread for-med, for example, of a material such as thesyntheti fibre forming polymeric amides known as nylon which is adaptedto be set to a definite shape subjecting the material to heat or heatand moisture as in the hosiery preboarding operation. In order that thehosiery may be properly shaped by the preboarding operation it isnecessary tha'tt-he hosiery beyplaced on the =preboarding form withparticular wales at the backan-d iront of the hosiery exactly followingthe back and front edges, respectively, of the thin flat'form usedint-his operation. In boarding full-fashioned hosiery, the seam at the"back and bottom of the hosiery provides a raised guide enabfing theoperator to rapidly and accurately pothe hosiery on the boarding 'form'by placing the hosiery seam alon the back edge of the form, an operationwhich can be carried out by feeling the position of the seam on theform. With seam-less hosiery there is no seam to guide the operator andin order to place seamless hosiery on a boarding form so as to have thehosiery present the most attractive appearance when offer-ed for sale,it is necessary to place particular wales of the hosiery on the back andfront edges or form. Careiui inspection and adjustment, therefore, arerequired to insure seamless hosiery heing'properly placed on the formand the operation is slow and costly. It is an object of invention toprovide a knitting machine having improved means for markin hosieryduring the knitting thereof so as to properly and quickly guide theplacing of the hosiery on a form.

The invention is-shown in the drawings "in connection with a Scott andWilliams circular knitting machine for knitting hosiery having turnedwelts, the machine being the general construction shown in the patent toScott, No. 1,282,958, issued October 29, 1-918, and provided withpatterning mechanism comprising jacks and jack selecting means such asare shown in the patent to Page, No. 1,969,853 issued August 14 1934,and only such parts of the knitting machine are shown as are necessaryto clearly illustrate the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a partial view in side elevation of a knitting machine havinga marking means in accordance with this invention, parts being brokenaway to show other parts more clearly;

fig. 2 is a partial view in side elevation showing the side opposite tothat of Fig. .1 some parts 2 being omitted to show 'the remaining partsmore clearly; V

Fig. 3 is a partial top plan view of the machine shown "1, parts beingbroken away to show other parts more clearly;

Fig. 4 iso fragmentary vlew'in elevation looking from the leftin Fig. 1;I

Fig. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view taken at a needle selectedfor marking the fabric and showing the relations of the needle 'andintermediate and pattern jacks to each other and to certain operatingcams;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in elevation showingthe relation 'ofthepattern {racks and th jack selecting lever provided "in connection withthis invention;

Fig. "7 is a perspective view showing needle selecting levers detachedfrom the machine;

Fig. a is a fragmentary plan view showing the cam operating the jacks ofselected. needles to which coloring matter is to be applied;

Figs. 9 and 10 are views in elevation of the back and front,respectively, of hosiery having coloring material applied "by a'machineina'ccordance with this invention; and

'Fig. 11 is an enlarged view of a fragment of the hosiery fabric showingcoloring material applied to the loops of two adjacent wales.

As shown in Figs. 9 and I0, hosiery marked by a machine in accordancewith this invention has a guide mark M of a width of one or more needlewales which may extend down selected Wale or wales of the back of theleg L from the start of the turned Welt 'W to the heel H. The mark isomitted from the heel and toe but extends along the bottom of the soleS. A similar guide mark M may extend along selected Wale or wales of thefront of the leg from the start of the welt W to and along the top ofthe instep I to the toe. The guide marks M and M, preferably, areoiT-set sever-a1 wales from the exact back and front wales of thestocking so as to appear on the same side of the form in the preboardingoperation, both marks being continuously visible to the operator andthus permitting adjustment of the stocking on the form to be readilymade. Preferably the guide mark is formed of a fugitive dye contrastingsufficiently in color with the thread of "which the hosiery is knit tobe readily seen when the hosiery is being placed on the preboardingform. As the preboarding operation sets the thread of which the hosieryis knit so that the hosiery tends to maintain the shape and (size givenit Ibytthe preboarding operation, the removal of the fugitive dyeforming the guide mark during the subsequent dyeing and finishingoperations does not interfere with rapid and eiiicient boarding of thehosiery as the shape assumed by the hosiery guides its placing on theboarding form.

The machine for forming the guide mark or marks on the hosiery duringthe knitting thereof shown in the drawings is a circular hosieryknitting machine having a needle cylinder 260 mounted for rotation in asuitable frame and having needles N, intermediate jacks T32 and patternjacks I36 alined in the grooves thereof, there being a jack of each kindfor each needle. The machine is also provided with the usual operatingcams and yarn fingers operated by push rods from cams on the mainpattern drum I20. The pattern jack selecting means provided comprises apattern drum 800 rotated step by step in the usual way and operatingreader cams 820 to select jacks for operating needles 'in the usualmanner.

A guide mark is formed in the hosiery by applying a fugitive dye to theupper ends one or more needles knitting the central wale r wales at theback or back and front of the hosiery, or knitting selected walesadjacent the back and front of the stocking. In order that the dye maybe applied to the desired needle or needles only, such needles areselected by being difierentiated in position during each revolution ofthe needle cylinder when the guide mark is being formed prior to theoperation of the adjacent needles to take the thread for knitting. Tosecure the differentiation in position of the selected needles N, thejacks 1361) for these needles have an upper portion of their operatingbutts 1360 cut away so that when rocked by the usual cam it during eachrevolution all patterning jacks 136 except the jacks 13Gb for theselected needles will have their operating butts 136a engaged by a lever'69 pivotally-mounted below the usual make-up lever 6! on the pinmounted in the lower bed plate B on which the reader cams 820 for thepatterning jacks are mounted. To operate the lever 60 there is attachedto an end of themain pattern drum lZB a pattern disk IZBa which rotateswith the main pattern drum IZEI and is provided with cams 50!, am and50!?) adapted to engage a pin 64 mounted in an arm 66 which is pivotallymounted on the machine frame.- The pin 64 projects on both sides of thearm 56 and has secured thereon, on the other side of the arm E55 fromthe cam 5M, the looped end of a Bowden wire t8, the opposite end ofwhich is connected to an end of the lever '69. A spring '10 connectedbetween the arm '66 and the machine frame opposes operation of the arm66 by the cams 56!, 5am and 50lb to permit lever '60 to be moved to itsjack engaging position by a spring 12 connected between the lever tiland the machine frame end, when the cam has released the lever 6d,serves to return the lever 66 to its inoperative position. The lever 68,when in jack engaging position, engages the jack operating butts 136a ofall jacks except the selected jacks 83th and forces back the lowerportions of the engaged jacks so that their operating butts pass theusual jack operating cam H3 and are not operated thereby. The jacks 73Gbfor the selected needles, not having had their operating butts pressedinwardly, have their operating butts i380 engaged by the jack operatingcam H3 and the jacks and selected needles N are raised thereby prior tothe raising of adjacent needles to take the yarn for knitting.

In the machine shown the latch ring 550 and the bracket I attached tothe latch ring and supporting the dial operating means can be raisedbeing pivotally connected as at 552 to a standard mounted on the upperbed plate A. To apply the coloring material to the-differentiated needleor needles there is provided a container 2 for liquid coloring materialhaving a detachable top or cover 2a to which is attached a light metaltube 4 having a wick 6 therein, the wick projecting from the tube atboth ends so as to tact with the hooks of the differentiated needles.

The metal tube 4 is secured by a clip 8 to a plate portion 9 of abracket Ill. 'The bracket I0 is formed with spaced lugs H which arepivotally connected to a base plate 12 secured by a screw 13 to thebracket I and with a lug l4 to which is connected one end of a Bowdenwire it, the opposite end of which is connected to a pin II on the lever66. A stop member i8 threaded into an opening in an extension I20; ofthe base plate I2 and secured in position by a. set screw l9 serves tolimit pivotal movement in the di-. rection of the needles of the plateportion 9 and the tube 4 secured thereto while a spring 28; secured tothe clip '8 by the clip retaining screw '2! and to the gear casing 22cooperates with the weight of the container 2 in biasing the plateportion 9 for movement in the direction bringing the wick 6 in'the tube4 into contact with the differentiated selected needle 'or needles N.The manner of securing the tube 4 and the ease or varying the shape ofthe tube permits of readily adapting the apparatus to suit differentconditions but in general the apparatus is so mounted that the wick endwhich engages the selected needle or needles is slightly below the levelof the liquid color in the container. Adjusting the position of the wickend with respect to the level of the liquid color provides a lim--" itedcontrol of the rate of flow of the liquid color to the needles.

In the operation of the knitting machine dis-; closed, the make-up lever6| is operated to se-' lect the needles to take the thread for thestarting course in the usual manner and, where the guide mark is placedin the Welt, a cam,- as the cam 5010,, will operate the arm 66 to permitthe spring 12 to place the'selecting lever 60 in oper-' ative positionand the spring 20 to place the wick 6 in position to be engaged by adifierentiated selected needle or needles upon completion of the make-upor starting courses. The cam 50] a is a two-step cam, the first stepbeing designed to render the selector lever 60 operative to select thejacks of the needles N' to be raised and the wick 6 not being brought toposition in which it engages the selected needles N until the pin 64 inarm 66 rests on the second step of the cam. The pattern drum I20 isoperated to shift the cam 50hr from the pin 64 as the knitting of thewelt fabric is completed permitting the spring 10 to operate the lever66. to return the lever 60 and the wick 6 to their inoperative positionsfor the transfer of the loops of the starting course to the welt. Iffollowing the regularwelt, a shadow welt having patterning foridentification is knit, the lever 60 and wick B are retainedininoperative position and are not returned to operative position untilthe knitting of the leg is begun. The lever 60 and the wick 6 aremaintained in operative position throughout the knitting of the leg, asby the cam SUI, andjare with-i drawn from operative position at thebeginning of the knitting of the heel. Upon completion of the heel, acam, as cam 5M b, returns the lever 60 and wick 6 to operative positionand maintains them in operative position throughout the knitting of theinstep and sole and is operated to permit their return to inoperativeposition at the beginning of the knitting of the toe.

What is claimed is:

In a marking device for circular knitting machines having means fordifferentiating selected needles, a container for a fluid color, a wickhaving one end in saidcontainer and the other end arranged forengagement by a differentiated selected needle, tubing attached to saidcontainer and enclosing said wick, supporting means engaging saidtubing, means pivotally mounting said supporting means and means foroperating said REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin the 10 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS:

Number Name Date 1,483,844 Drumheller l Feb. 12, 1924 15 2,388,648Sheppard Nov. 6, 1945

